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nal for the start of a flood of petitions,
toward the president.
If he should listen to the little gro
cers and clubwomen, cut off the
flow of food toward the continent
and take the nation's rations out of
the hands of millionaire speculators
and cold storage hogs, a drop in price
is certain.
Thousands of carloads of food is
being held in eastern, cities, owned by
food hogs who are tryig to place the
stuff with the representatives of for
eign governments. The price to Eu
rope, although sometimes higher, is
often about the same as the specu
lators could get from home buyers,
but the chance of making a big clean
up or of selling in large quantities, for
cash has pulled an enormous per
centage of the nation's food to east
ern ports awaiting sale and ship
ment So great has been the crush of
foodstuffs toward forwarding ports
of the Atlantic coast that four big
railroads have refused to take food
unless of the perishable variety for
shipment east of Pennsylvania. -Their
yards are crowded with cars loaded
with eatables. .
This situation is ideal for the big
wholesalers and food "experts" who
have been buying and selling stuff
they have never seen. Their profits
are the greatest in" the history of the
country's markets.
But the poor have felt the increase.
With canned goods up from 5 to 8
cents a can, wheat and flour boosted
so bread had to be kited to 6 cents a
loaf, with sugar up 2 to 4 cents a
pountd and milk at 9 cents a quart
because canners are grabbing the
available supply, food thieves have
really been reaping their big divi
dends at the expense of the poor.
In the munitions trade common
, laborers profit But in the shipment
of big quantities of food to Europe,
none bu the men who buy low and
sell high, declare in cn the margin.
Grocers are sore because thev
don't make any more on high-priced
food than on low. Their margin is
about the sanie whether food goes up
or down. The difference is collected
somewhere among the wholesale and
commission men.
Sopartly for themselves, because
the common class is eating less under
high prices, and partly because they
feel for their customers, the grocers
are fostering the move toward an
embargo.
F. B. Connolly, secretary of the na
tional association, stated the case of
the small grocer today like this:
"We retailers don't make a cent
more when the price of butter and
eggs is 48 cents than when It is 38,"
declared Connolly today. It s the
wholesaler who manipulates the
market to make the big rake-off.
Our profits are small."
The resolution of the grocers fol
lows: "Whereas, Unprecedented, advanc
es have taken place in the price of
the leading foodstuffs that comprise
the necessities of life and
If the exportation of these necessi
ties of life were stbpped the present
high prices would materially decline,
therefore be it-resolved .'
That we, the National ass'n of Re
tail Grocers, do hereby call upon
Presr Wilson to place an embargo
upon wheat, flour, sugar, canned
milks and canned tomatoes, in order
to reduce the present high cost of
living, -and be it further resolved
That our friends, the consumers,
be invited to sign this petition in
great numbers so that prompt action
will be taken to prevent further ad
vances in the price of these goods."
o o-
ORGANIZE TO FIGHT H. C. OF L.
A. conference of from 60 to 70 or
ganizations will be held at 1114 S.
Halsted st tonight The object of
the meeting is to find some way of
hitting the high cost of. living.
-- o o
Shenandoah, la. rJohn M. Phipps
died here at age of 105. Too old to
serve during civil war.